Stark law

Feds Delay Stark Rule, Anti-Kickback Update

An update of regulations that limit the ability of doctors to refer patients for care to sources in which those doctors have a financial interest will wait as long as another year, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. CMS had previously proposed regulations updating current guidelines, essentially easing them, but provider comment was so great – often, saying that the easing of the guidelines did not go far enough – that the agency decided to step back and review the situation. In a public inspection version of a notice to be published in the Federal Register, CMS [...]

admin2020-08-29T06:00:59+00:00August 29, 2020|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare, Medicare regulations|

Stark Changes Coming to Facilitate Value Care?

At a Washington, D.C. conference, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma announced that changes coming in Stark law requirements will enable Medicare to make better use of value-based purchasing in its reimbursement system. In addition to addressing cybersecurity and electronic health record system issues, changes in the anti-self-referral law will seek to facilitate better coordination of care for Medicare patients. Verma explained the underlying rationale for the anticipated changes, noting that …in a system where we’re transitioning and trying to pay for value, where the provider is ideally taking on some risk for outcomes and cost overruns, [...]

admin2019-03-07T06:00:54+00:00March 7, 2019|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy|

Ways and Means Releases Red Tape Report

The House Ways and Means Committee has released a report detailing its efforts to date to reduce red tape in the delivery of health care and to present steps it might take in the future to continue with that process. In the first stage of its red tape project, Ways and Means solicited stakeholder input and heard from nearly 300 stakeholder groups. Next, it hosted roundtable discussions with various groups to review the issues they raised. Now, following publication of its report, the committee plans to work in consultation with the administration to advance legislation to address some of the [...]

admin2018-09-05T06:00:30+00:00September 5, 2018|Uncategorized|

With Eye on Value-Based Care, CMS Eyes Stark Law Change

Interested in addressing legal obstacles that prevent providers from participating in innovative payment models, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has put out a call for stakeholders to address challenges raised by the so-called Stark law that makes it difficult for physicians to participate in such models. In a news release accompanying CMS’s publication of its request for information, the agency notes that Over the past year, CMS has engaged with the provider community in a discussion about regulatory burden issues. This included publishing a Request for Information (RFI) soliciting comments about areas of high regulatory burden. One of [...]

admin2018-06-28T06:00:30+00:00June 28, 2018|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicare|